MEDIA RANT
Today, I am irked by an article in the New York Times about the new Oxygen series called "Good Girls Don't..."
Infuriating title of the series aside (what is "good" and why does the title make it seem bad? Where does the ellipsis lead you? This is like that Meatloaf song "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" What won't he do? Very unclear), I have an issue with the author's description of one of the show's leads.
In comparing the show to "Absolutely Fabulous," writer Alessandra Stanley says that "the slutty roommate is also a big, fat lush." In case we thought she meant "big, fat" in the Greek wedding kind of way instead of the rotund kind of way, later, she clarifies: "There is nothing very fresh or funny about Jane, the plump, slutty and soused roommate on 'Good Girls Don't . . .'"
Why this bugs me: Jane (played by Joy Gohring) is not fat.
There's no pic of Joy in her IMDB profile , but the Times has a picture of her. So she's not super-skinny, so what? She's got boobs and hips, but last I checked, that just means she's a woman. Did anyone ever tell Kathleen Turner she was fat? Or call Susan Sarandon a slut? Pamela Anderson, Anna Nicole Smith, sure...but that's part of an image that's carefully cultivated (and surgically sculpted).
Independent of the criticism of the quality of the show itself, which may or may not be accurate, I find myself having "Doogie Howser Meets Carrie Bradshaw" moments:
* Does this mean that all women with womanly bodies are perceived as "fat" or "sluts" or both?
* Do men and women react differently to shows like this one?
* Do shows like "Good Girls Don't..." demean women, or is that charge a reaction to the depiction of women taking charge of their lives and having sex like men?
* If there were something "fresh or funny about Jane, the plump, slutty and soused roommate," would Stanley have described Jane/Joy more flatteringly? Does funny make fat/slutty ok?
Thoughts?
posted by Esther Kustanowitz @ 1:25 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
I, for one, have been in love with Kathleen Turner ever since Romancing the Stone. And Jessica Rabbitt is the hottest of animated hotties... outside the world of animated porn, that is...
well... i read the article. i saw the picture they included. i did not, however, see the show they're talking about... but my thoughts are as follows:
no, joy is NOT FAT, certainly not from what i can see in the photograph. busty, certainly, but fat? no. i'm wondering just how 'fat' the author of the article is--or is she another super skinny anorexic who lives by the standards invented by the powers that be at vogue magazine and dolce & gabbana?
secondly, what is the POINT of her article? that television is doind women a disservice? her ARTICLE is doing women a disservice. why raise a point about women's literature and just leave it hanging, unqualified, no link to her topic at hand. i'd take more issue in the fact that pr gurus are touting casual sex as the 'new' thing... have they not heard of 'free love' in the 60's, the disco era or the indulgent 80's? why are the only sitcom women she references the vapid ones? what is she really getting at when she says the language is too foul to be printed in the paper--shouldn't THAT be more of a problem than a character who wears something bigger than a size XS?
...stop me, please!!!
Erm, actually, the Meat Loaf song makes it pretty clear what he won't do (or is claiming he won't do, anyway):
1. He'll "never forget the way you feel right now"
2. He'll "never forgive myself if we don’t go all the way tonight"
3. He'll "never do it better than I do it with you"
4. He'll "never stop dreaming of you every night of my life"
5. He won't "forget everything," or, "realize it's time to move on." (This from the girl's challenge.)
6. He won't "be screwing around." (also from the girl's challenge.)
I realize I'm just being a dork. But an accurate dork.
I may have to watch the show now!
The self-proclaimed "accurate dork" (whose nom de plume is "Anonymous") points out, correctly, that the woman in the Meat Loaf song makes challenges to ML, and he says "I won't do that." But for every four challenges or so, he only says "I won't do that" once. So, his correct response should be "I won't do any of those." Or, he could consolidate all his responses into "You think I'm playin' you? I won't do that."
Stephen's not wrong on this one. I forgot about Rocky Horror, which was huge of me to forget.
And further to Anonymous, right after I sent that Meat Loaf comment, I heard the song on the radio, and I think he might be right...
I'd have to do a line-by-line analysis of the lyrics, though.
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